Cavendish makes mark

Cavendish nabs the fifth stage

Britain should be proud of the sports it excels at and at the moment, British cycling is the best organised, most focused and successful sport this country can boast.

And yesterday 23-year-old Mark Cavendish confirmed his status as the fastest sprinter in the world and the youngest Brit to ever win a stage of the Tour de France when he nabbed the fifth stage into Chateauroux.

Given a clear route and an unobstructed line, Cavendish can cover the last 200m of a race faster than any other man on the planet. The Manx Man won two stages of the Giro d’Italia earlier this year and his confidence is such he actually ‘gifted’ another stage to a teammate when he pulled up to allow his colleague the final glory.

And let’s not forget Cavendish struck gold at the world track championships too in 2008 in the Madison event.

Speaking of his Tour stage win he said: ‘It’s the biggest thing to have happened to me and to do it so young is massive.

‘I came here with the intention of winning a stage and I would have gone home disappointed if I hadn’t.’

This was the first opportunity in this year’s Tour for the sprinters to have a dig. High winds and tricky stage run-ins thus far have kept the fast boys from lining up in a bunch sprint. It makes it all the more impressive as he has grabbed the first opportunity to come his way.

But let’s widen the view on cycling and celebrate that during those same track championships in 2008, Britain won more golds than all the other countries put together.

The best coaches, the finest science, drug-free riders and top-notch equipment as well as the centre of excellence at the Manchester velodrome haved made British track cycling the envy of the world.

Beijing could well be the biggest gold haul triumph in British Olympic history, never mind cycling.

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